Bio Cultural Protocol

Van Gujjar Pouri Garhwal (Uttrakhand)

Iftikhar Hussain

Community

“When the daughter of the king of Jammu and Kashmir was married to the prince of Uttarakhand, we came along with her as her dowry. When the daughter returned to her fathers’ home, after the first year of the marriage, her father asked her if she was facing any problem. She said, father I can find whatever I look for, but I cannot see Gujjars there and I want you to send a few of them there. And this is how we came to Uttarakhand some 250 years ago. these are the stories that our forefathers told, telling us that we came from the Jammu region”. Sharafat Ali Gujjar

We are a pastoral group commonly referred to as the Van Gujjars of Uttarakhand. Our community practice’s pastoralism throughout the Himalayas from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal to Uttarakhand. While the largest share of the population lives in Jammu and Kashmir, and around 1 lac lives in Pauri Garhwal and Kumanoun region of Uttarakhand. We been practicing pastoralism from generations in the Himalayan region rearing a unique blend of livestock in different regions, for example here in the Uttarakhand we rear buffalos.

Our Origin

We follow the Bareilvi sect of Sunni Islam. Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan is our current spiritual leader. The sect follows a Sufi version of Islam. We follow his guidelines when dealing with day to day issues in the community, although with slight modifications. We are from the same communities that can be found in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Our social and cultural practices overlap with each other.

Our Traditional Livelihoods

we are a nomadic tribe practicing pastoralism and we solely rear and breed buffalos based on our traditional knowledge and customary graze our livestock on communal lands and in forests.

The main source of livelihood of the community is livelihood which, includes mainly Buffalo’s however, others such as cows, horses (ponies) and few keep goats for household purposes. Currently, buffalo’s milk is the main source of income generation for the community. The community used to make other milk products but after sedentarization, a smaller number of households make those products such as Mava, Kaladi (cheese), ghee (refined butter). As the community can easily sell milk in the market after semi-sedentarization.

Migration

The migration to the upper reaches of the Himalaya is similar to many other Pastoral communities living in Himalaya. The migration is closely linked to the seasons. The community moves to upper reaches during the months of March and April of each year. Due to recent changes in the law to restrict further the grazing lands and hostilities, many members of the community prefer to stay back in the Pouri Garhwal area. And send their heard with other members of the community during the migration period. Some stay back because of the education of their children’s and send non-milch heard to the upper reaches. Till a few years back most of the families used to travel to upper reaches, however, by attaching non-milch heard with other members of the community they can reduce the cost on fodder they have to buy otherwise. Lives of Van Gujjar community is closely knit to the systematic changes in the weather pattern.

Wind of Changes

Large numbers of van Gujjars still practice regular migration and moves towards upper reaches during the summer. Albeit changed routes due to uncountable restrictions and hostilities from the villagers and govt. departments. The process of sedentarization further degraded the quality of the livestock and the diversity of the livestock. Lack of pastures when moving towards during the winter seasons further complicated the issue. The change of priorities such as owning a piece of land is considered more important than having to spend a lifetime migrating from one place to another. Time and again the govt. demolished the homes and forced some of them to even more frugal lifestyle. “It’s like keeping the fish away from the water”. And forced to live on the banks of the rivers and try to keep few buffalos for the continuous source of income.

Those who are shifted to Gendai Khata, Haridwar have their problems. As none of the family has title to the land they are forever concerned about the future. On average those who had permits got 10 bigha’s of land during the second resettlement. However, those who had large heard of livestock can not afford to move to such a place. Those who moved had to stall-feed their buffalo’s and some started crossbreeding with Murrah buffalo. As the van Gujjars did not have the agricultural skills required more than subsistence agriculture. The Van Gujjars started giving away land to the outsiders for agriculture. Making further difficult for the next generations of van Gujjars to learn agricultural skills. The new generation from the Gendai is involved in jobs other than pastoralism. There remain now few remnants of pastoralism in the Gendai Khata. Gendai Khata is at the earlier stage of any village. However, milk still plays a big role in the economy of the village.

The Gojri Buffalo

The name of the breed came from the community. It has medium-sized round horns and long tail touching the ground. The gojri breed can have albinos among them. But there is no problem having albino. They are equally as good as the black one. As the breed is kept within the larger Gujjar community across the Himalayas. The gojri buffalo can be found with the Muslim Gujjars Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. As most of the Gujjars used to travel long distances in search of pasture. The community bred a buffalo which, can travel long distances with the pastoral community and doesn’t compromise on the quantity of milk. The other thing is that after the restrictions were imposed by the department of the forest the gojri buffalo has to face a shortage of grazing land. However, the gojri buffalo is well adapted to other varieties of fodder such as leaves that have taken a larger portion of diet after the artificial plantation of Rajaji National park and the surrounding area.

On average till one year after the birth of the calf, the gives around 6 to 7 liters of milk per day. As the Gojri breed is bred for walking long distances it can go long distances for grazing without any herding in the grazing land. Herding with having someone all the time with the herd is recent practice for the gojri breed. Earlier the buffalo used to travel 10-15 kilometers a day. Which, kept buffalo healthy. The milk of gojri buffalos is extremely beneficial for health. As they graze in the forest and eat the best grass in the pasture which, directly transfers to the milk of the buffalos.

Breeding

The first time when breeding is done the gojri buffalo should be of 3 years. Buffalo should be beautiful. The horns should be round, not downward or straight upward. The backside of the buffalo should be wide. It must be black having no defects in physical appearance. For the female buffalo, the selection is done thoroughly.

Looking at her mother, grandmother and great grandmother and also her offspring. checking if the buffalo is giving an equivalent amount of milk as her mother and grandmother or there is any difference. The elders of the community or few elders from some families have a picture of the now gone buffalos. They compare the buffalo with the one in their head then decide if the buffalo is good for further breeding or not. Her legs must be spotless. A small white spot on one hoof or leg is not considered for further breeding. The lower part of the legs of the female buffalo must be short. And the long face is considered better for breeding. There shouldn’t be any problem with the eyes of the buffalo. Her ears should be pointy, not round. Her teeth must be in good condition having no bleeding gums. And her breath should not smell foul. She should not be big which, might reduce her movement in the jungle and eat more. The buffalo should not be aggressive towards the people.

Selection of the Bull

The process of selection of a bull is similar to the selection of a female buffalo. The Bull should have long tail almost touching the ground. Having more skin on the penis is considered one of the many qualities of a better bull. The buttocks of the bull should be wide. A bull gets ready after 3 years. Each family those who have heard of more than 10 buffalos keeps its Bull. Those families having a herd of 50 buffalos could have 2 bulls. But it becomes risky to keep two bulls at the same place. Most of the time the bulls have to be kept separate and keep an eye on both so that they won’t get into any fight. Which, is very common among the bulls.
There should not be any inbreeding. The bull cannot mate with his sisters, cousins or any relative female buffalo. Inbreeding is strongly prohibited and monitored. The bulls are exchanged and rotated among the community. Furthermore, those families who don’t keep their bull don’t face any issue as a community always share the bull. Bulls are monitored constantly to not allow them to mate more than the required number. It harms the overall health of the bull.

Ponies and its Role

Horses (ponies) are rarely being used now a day. As not enough families travel to upper reaches during the migration which, had an adverse effect on pastoralism. Those who move to upper reaches such as Pathri, Haridwar take vehicles for the domestic load, while buffalos being heard by one or two persons. The horses can only be used during the migration period that’s why people further reduced their reliance on them as the vehicle can reach the Behaks (where data can be set up). This is because due to restrictions on migration routes. The horses were used when the Behaks were away from roads and in far-flung areas. Now Behaks are close to roads making it easier for the pastorals to move the domestic load by vehicles only.

However, earlier the horses use to graze on grasslands and keep it healthy for the buffalos as they graze on smaller grasses or eat away the invasive plants before they become a menace for the grassland. But due Lantana plantation and dwindling population of horses adversely affected the grassland. The importance of income from buffalo milk has also played a big role in the decrease in the number of horses. Horses used to play an important role in the heard. However, after sedentarization, only those pastoral keeps them who migrate to far-flung Behaks.

Livelihood

Currently, around 25 vehicles daily loaded with milk being supplied to Rishikesh and a similar number of vehicles being supplied to Haridwar. Most of the milk is supplied to middlemen and some supply to traditional clients from which they can purchase the fodder for the buffalos. These transactions usually don’t happen in cash. The baniya provides the details after six months or even after a year. Most of the time it is the Pastoral who is under debt at the end of the year. The average amount of milk from one pastoral family is around 60-70 liters in a day. But the income has to be adjusted from other sources. As the cost of fodder itself remains more than the income earned from the sale of milk. To do so one or two members of the family take up other jobs such as mason, laborer, driver, etc.

A pastoral who supplies around 160 liters of milk daily to his traditional customer from whom he also purchases the fodder. Said that “he can’t afford to purchase this much of milk as there is less demand after the price increased by Amul and other dairies. So, to save the relationship I purchase 25 liters from him after selling my milk to him at the market rate so that in return he can purchase all the milk from me”.

Today the Van Gujjar community has taken over many other works, those who stay back and do not migrate. Some of them collect milk from the community and later sell in the market. few are driving passenger cars; few are working as a laborer and some have completely left the pastoralism altogether. Such as those who were first resettled on the outskirt of the Rishikesh, Gujjar Basti in Rishikesh. Around 42 families were allotted land according to the number of buffalos on their permits. Only four families were able to resist the drastic changes in the production system and have pucca homes. While others sold their lands and are living in rented places having no connection with Pastoralism. Only one family from all those 42 is keeping buffalo’s, however, mixed breed and jersey cows having a total number of 20 buffalos.

As for those who are living inside the Rajaji national park fodder has become of a larger issue. Though the community wants to continue the pastoralism. But due to scarily available fodder on the community used to be dependent have become even less in quantity because of restrictions by the department of wildlife and artificial plantation with large canopy such as lantana has been particularly had a devastating effect on the grazing lands. Further herds health remains to be a big issue. Now the animals have to kept close to each other increasing the chances of having a large number at one place of livestock increase the mortality rate. And few of the families keep buffalos in the same Chhappers (houses).

Socio and Cultural Practices

Like elsewhere death of a person in the village is marked with the mourning by the family members and nearby relatives, the deceased is buried according to Islamic rites and rituals and Fatiha Bhawani (prayer marked by the recitation of the Quran) held by the near and dears of the deceased. Usually, for three days the family of the deceased is served food by their relatives and neighbors. Special fatiha khawani is held on 4th day of mourning called Roohan di dua (prayers for the deceased soul). Apart from it, fatiha khawani is also held on the 20th (beeya) and 40th day (chaliya).

Marriage ceremonies

Most of pastoral groups marriage happen in the different caste of the Gujjars. A person belonging to the Badhana caste cannot marry into Badhana caste (same Gotra). He/she has to marry into another caste such as Poswal, Chechi, Khatana or Kasana. Most of the marriages are arranged marriages. And arranged during the earlier years of childhood. However, after Nikah, the girl can only move to grooms when she reaches around 18 years of age or above. It happens through oral contracts e.g. “my daughter will marry your son or my son will marry your daughter” and it is these types of contracts (zuban deni) that are kept till the marriage.
The head of the male side family goes to the female side family home to ask for the hand of the daughter. If they agree they ask for some time to prepare for the marriage (Taide banna/Din baandna) and do a small ceremony called mangni in few days to set the date of marriage. Where members of the community are invited. To arrange eatables the community pools some of the resources in the mangni such as most will bring the milk from 10-20 liters and others whatever they like. A similar approach is adopted during the marriage. The marriage is not lavish but the community still pools the resources for the same. With changing time, a Kata (male buffalo) might be slaughtered if they can afford it. Ghee Bhura, Roti, sabzi, milk will be served to the people. But meat is not served to everyone as the quantity is less and is served to important people.

One can marry a girl from the mother's side however there can be no marriage from the father's side. There are different kinds of competition between both parties during the marriage ceremony. Baith (traditional songs) competition is one of the fine events in the marriage ceremony. It is sung by both parties from the bride and grooms’ side. Then there are other games such as getting away from someone’s handgrip to show which party is a strong one.

Birth ceremony

As far as the birth ceremony is concerned, the family and relatives welcome a newly born baby and his/her birth is an occasion of great happiness. The parents gave sadka (alms) as a mark of gratitude to almighty and to secure the future happiness of a newly born family. These rites related to birth have been greatly influenced by Islamic culture. Nearby relatives visit the home of the parents of newly born with gifts and clothes, to offer congratulations. The baby’s head shaved off and parents choose some good names and then select one of them for their child.

About Death

If someone dies the pastorals will bury them in a communal graveyard. The molvi leading the prayer. After the burial, there will be a recitation of the whole Quran (Tilawat) at the home of the deceased for a peaceful life hereafter. Thereafter on the fourth day, there will be another day called chouthou (fourth day) where there will be very small anniversary types were again the hifz/hafiz (someone who can recite the Quran) and molvis are invited for the rites. And after that, there will be none till when it will be one year from the death. A big anniversary will be held to remember the departed after a year. The community will share the burden by providing whatever they during these events.

Family System

Kinship

Paji (father) abba, pai
Maa/amma (mother)
Dado (grandfather)
Pardado (grandfather’s father)
lakardado (great great grandfather)
Dadi (grandmother) or badiamma (grandmother)
Naadon (mother’s father)
Naadi (mother’s mother)
Mawon (mother’s brother)
Buboo (father’s sister) also khala
Maasi (mother’s sister)
Gadro/Nando/poot (son)
Kudi/thee (daughter)
paind (sister)
Praa (brother)
Potro (gradson)
Potri (gradson)
Detro (daughter’son)
Detri (daughter’s)
Nooh (daughter-in-law)
Jamatro (son-in-law)
parjayi (brother’wife)
Jaith (husband’s elder brother)
Dair (husband’s younger brother)
Chachairo (paternal cousin)
Mawlero (maternal cousin)
Panjo (sister’s son)
Panji (sister’s daughter)
Patriyo (brother’s son)
Patree (brother’s daughter)

Language of the people

We van Gujjars of Uttarakhand speak a dialect of Gojri language. However, slightly different from the one spoken among the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Our dialect has more of Garhwali's influence comparatively. However, when it comes to Beit (folk songs) they sang in the same dialect all over the Gujjar community. We don’t face any problem to understand the other dialects of the Gojri Language.

Caste Setup

Similarly, the castes among Uttarakhand van Gujjars are no different from the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Bhadana, Chechi, Poswal, Khatana are among the most prominent castes in the community. There is also new caste Chindingi born out of marriages between Bhadana and chechi’s. Their social status is much lower than other older castes comparatively. They don’t have much livestock or Jaad (common forest). They usually get don’t invited to participate in the Penchi (communal decision making). While other castes don’t have any kind of hierarchies among them.

Games and Sports

The most popular game used to be Boogdar. A boogdar is made out of big and round stone and is around 45 to 50 kilograms. One has to pick up the boogdar singlehandedly from the ground without the direct help of the other hand. To support the person picking up the boogdar hold a wooden stick in either of the hand to stand still and so to not hurt himself.

The game is played during marriage ceremonies to showcase the strength of youth who might be ready for the marriage. Earlier people used to amuse themselves by playing traditional games like horse riding and games like showing the strength through picking up boogdar. These were common among the grown-ups. The children, however, use to play games and sports like iti-dano (guli-danda), chappan-toondan (hide & seek). Apart from these games, gettay (a game played while sitting using only hands) was also famous among young girls.

Date: October 2019 to March 2020
Location: Rajaji National Park, Rishikesh, Uttrakhand

By Iftikhar Hussain